


An Exercise in Futility

by mpatientdreamr



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, NCIS
Genre: Background Character Death, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-23
Updated: 2012-07-23
Packaged: 2017-11-10 13:46:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/466976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mpatientdreamr/pseuds/mpatientdreamr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gibbs learns something new.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Exercise in Futility

“Talk to me!” Gibbs yelled, banging his fists on the interrogation room table.

Xander looked up slowly from the intent study of his calloused hands. “Okay,” he said quietly, an unfamiliar glint in his eye. Gibbs felt his stomach drop. “My father used to drink. And when he drank, he got mean. He’d yell, kind of like you just did. Only difference? I knew that he could hit, so he was a lot scarier. My mother drank, too, but she was more that sad drunk who couldn’t match her socks.” Xander leaned forward. “You don’t frighten me, Special Agent Gibbs. Now. I’m gonna sit here and wait for my lawyer. I’d suggest you go find some evidence that says I’m guilty.”

Gibbs left the interrogation room and snapped, “Tell me we’ve got something, anything to tie this bastard to the murders.”

“Beyond his name coming up in each of the police reports, nothing,” McGee said, shifting away from his irate team leader.

“He took me seriously,” Ziva said out of the blue. When she had everyone’s attention, she continued, “Most male civilians don’t look at a woman and seriously consider them to be a threat. He did.”

“That’s just the kind of guy he is,” a man said from behind them. The team spun to see a tall blonde man standing beside Colonel Mann. “Special Agent Riley Finn. Colonel Mann was kind enough to show me down. I’m here to help shed some light on some of the details of your murders.”

“What interest does the Army have in the murders of one dead marine and five dead civilians?” Gibbs asked dangerously.

“Not a damned thing,” Finn answered blithely. “But several very important people want Alexander Harris free to go about his business. If it takes reading in the director of NCIS, two scientists, and four agents, they’re willing to see that happen.”

Gibbs rocked back, studying Finn. “Why’s he so important?”

Finn smiled slightly. “I used to ask that question a lot. And it’s something no one can ever explain. The best I can come up with is that he’s the key to the sanity and humanity of several people the guys in charge want to keep happy.”

“He’s the main suspect in the murders of five women,” Gibbs said just to see a reaction.

“He didn’t do it,” Finn said instantly. If there was a flicker of doubt, Gibbs didn’t see it. “I’m not saying that, out of self-defense or the defense of another person, he couldn’t do it. I’m saying that torturing and killing for kicks isn’t in him.”

Gibbs nodded. “Fine. Prove it.”  
   
 


	2. Learning Exercise

Being ‘read in’ involved a trip to the cemetery with a little red-haired girl (Hi! Call me Vi!) and watching as she stabbed a man in the heart with a stick and he crumbled to dust. Gibbs’s jaw had clenched as Finn had explained while the girl had moved off suddenly and fought four other combatants, putting on a show that would put acrobats and ninjas to shame. She came back to them, smiling as she shook dust out of her hair.

“Vamps. Itchy bastards,” she said cheerfully.

“How does this prove that Alexander Harris didn’t kill those women?” Gibbs demanded. Little girls fighting monsters. He ought to lock up Harris _and_ Finn on principle.

The cheer faded from her face and this look that said she could and would rip your throat out crossed her face, settled in her eyes. “Because he didn’t kill anybody. They were Slayers, like I am. They were destined to die young from the minute they were called. Xander is a Watcher; he came to help us find out what needed to be killed.”

Gibbs’s jaw ticked. “That doesn’t offer me proof.”

Vi shrugged. “Won’t matter. By the time you get back to NCIS, all of your evidence will be gone. This little experience tonight was to give you peace of mind. So that you could know that the demon responsible had already paid.”

She and Finn stepped away from them and they disappeared a flash of light.

Gibbs yanked out his phone and started to curse as Abby babbled down the line.  
 


	3. Exercise Your Rights

Sec Nav had pulled his team off the case and warned them against going against the Council in general and Alexander Harris in particular. It seemed, though, that God was determined to rub Gibbs’s face in the fact that there were people out there who couldn’t be bullied.

“This is just the luck,” Harris muttered as he paced the 10 foot by 5 foot concrete floor. The walls were concrete and the doors were of the sternest metal that Gibbs had ever seen. “I mean, we’re trying to stay out of your hair. We don’t want to pull you right into the middle of this. But, no, you had to go out in a cemetery by yourself. And I had to be a Good Samaritan and not let you get eaten. Goddess, how stupid can a person get? We show you that vampires are real, tell you other baddies are out there, and you go wandering through a cemetery!”

“Why don’t you exercise your right to shut the hell up?” Gibbs finally snapped, pissed beyond measure. Yes, he had been stupid. No, he didn’t need some _kid_ with delusions of importance telling him off about it.

Xander just rolled his eye. “If you didn’t want to hear about it, you shouldn’t have wandered into my territory.”

That was when the door was ripped from its hinges and a woman with black and white striped hair floated in the doorway. “Twenty minutes, Wills,” she said, voice pitched octaves lower than it should have been able to reach, yet it still seemed to be mocking. “Nothing can go wrong in twenty minutes, my Willow girl. Isn’t that what you told me?”

Harris sighed and slumped and Gibbs tensed because that was the first time he’d ever seen the other man defeated. That this little slip of a girl with her black veins and floating could do it with just a few words spoke volumes.

“It’s not my fault,” Harris said and there was a bit of a whine in his voice. “It was Mr. Secret Agent man, there, who can’t follow orders to save his life. Literally.”

The woman sighed and sank to the floor. Gibbs’s eyebrows rose as her hair changed from streaky black and white to brassy red. Damn, he was going to have to rethink his stance on redheads now.

“The White Knight Syndrome strikes again,” she said quietly, coming into the room and wiping a trail of blood away from the corner of his mouth.

He grinned down at her and Gibbs kind of twitched. He couldn’t exactly understand the vibe he was getting from them. His gut didn’t usually let him down.

She spun and he instinctively stepped back a pace before stilling. She glowered and it would have seemed ridiculous if the door didn’t decide that right then was the perfect moment to slide down the wall and crash all the way to the floor. She shook a finger at him. “Have you learned your lesson? We can’t keep pulling you out of trouble and if you keep heading into it, you’re going to pull your team in with you. They’ll follow you anywhere and you know it. Stay out of our business, Special Agent Gibbs, or the next time, we’ll let you get eaten and hope you don’t take five other good people with you.”

Harris wrapped an arm around her waist and started leading her to the door. “I think he’s got the point, Wills. Let’s go round up the girls and go home.”

She tilted her face up to look at him and smirked. “Buffy and Faith rode along on this rescue. They’re ticked.”

Harris winced. “Goddess. Maybe you should just let me get eaten next time, too.”

The woman melted into him and said, “Spike’ll wear a frilly apron and cook kittens in Andrew’s kitchen, first.”

Gibbs winced as Harris’s chuckle drifted back to him. He knew when he had lost and that was definitely the case this time. He would back off as much as he was able. He wouldn’t lead his team right to the door of people that giggled about eating kittens.  
   
 


	4. Exercising Diplomacy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written before we learned the sex or name of Franks' grandchild. So it's a little AU.

Gibbs wouldn’t be taking his people anywhere near this building if he hadn’t been ordered to. Then again, if Mike Franks hadn’t showed up at his door sober and in a nice suit, Gibbs probably would have found a way around those orders. He was a resourceful guy and the boys down in Dispatch were thoroughly terrified of him.

“You’re going, Probie, and maybe you’ll learn something,” Franks had rasped and Gibbs had quietly called Dispatch and told them he wouldn’t be needing their services.

Whatever he thought about the Council, if Mike thought there was something he should learn from them, Gibbs would try his damnedest. His team was armed, though, and Abby was tucked in between Tony and Ziva. Gibbs trusted Mike but the protection of his team came first.

Finn answered at the first knock looking solemn, stepping out onto the porch instead of letting them in. Gibbs was a little surprised to see the man in dress uniform and exactly how much chest candy was present.

“You’re invited guests tonight,” Finn started quietly. “So if anyone gives you trouble, let me know. Also, I know you have weapons on you. We’re not asking you to give those up. However, do not, under any circumstances, pull them tonight. You will not like the consequences.”

Mike nodded. “They understand.”

Finn gave Mike a warm look, surprising Gibbs. “Great, follow me.”

Gibbs was even more surprised when, as soon as they walked in, a dark-haired toddler ran up to Mike, arms raised. Mike swept him up, turned to Gibbs and his team.

“Guys, this is my grandson Jamal,” Mike said, bouncing the kid and making him giggle. “His mother Shahar is one of the Slayers that takes orders from this branch.”

Gibbs’s brows furrowed as Abby moved forward to coo at the little boy. “How long have you known about this?”

“A little after Shahar moved in with me,” Mike said gruffly. “She started breakin’ stuff and having dreams. Then a man approached and explained what was goin’ on.”

“You’ve known for around two years and you didn’t say anything?” Gibbs was trying to bite back on his anger but that was against his nature.

“I didn’t say anything because I figured you’d climb up on your high horse and have to be beat with sticks to get knocked back off,” Franks growled, letting Finn take Jamal so he could jab Gibbs in the chest. “And that’s exactly what happened.”

“Hey, hey. Not today, Franks,” Harris said as he sedately wandered into the room. If Finn looked odd in dress uniform, Harris looked doubly so in a suit that had Tony drooling. “Yell at him on your own time.”

Mike nodded. “Of course. Is everything ready?”

Harris nodded, face grim. “Yeah. Right on schedule.” His one dark eye focused on Gibbs who fell into the fathoms. “You’re here as a courtesy to Franks. Try to behave yourself.”

Gibbs gave a short nod. “I can do that.”

Harris gave him a dubious look but said, “Follow me.”

And follow they did, through a neatly refurbished mansion, over the gently lit backyard, and down towards a mass of people, mostly teenage girls, that were standing at the edge of a small lake. Gibbs was a little shocked that dusk had given way to a moonless night.

Vi stepped into their path, keeping them from following Xander as the man wound his way to the front of the crowd. “Take a boat and a candle,” she said, then glanced at Gibbs. “You’re supposed to take two candles.” Then she was back to talking to everyone. “Follow the crowd; put the candle in the boat, and the boat in the water. Each candle stands for a loved one lost.”

Gibbs felt irrational anger wash through him at the idea that they might know about Shannon and Kelly but picked up a little woven boat and two off-white candles, his team and Franks likewise following directions, and they all followed the crowd to the lake’s edge.

They scooted away after putting their boats down, moving so that everybody else could reach the water’s edge.

When the last boat was placed on the water, Harris, sitting on a boulder between the familiar redhead and an unknown leggy brunette, cleared his throat and said, “It’s been two years since Sunnydale fell. Most of you have been Slayers for two years.” A tiny brunette leaning against the front of Harris’s boulder snorted. Harris grinned suddenly, but that faded almost a quick as it came as he said, “I said most of you. You’ve all got the power, the privileges, and the problems that Destiny can grant you.”

Harris got quiet for a moment and the brunette reached up and wrapped a hand around his ankle. Harris continued, “You’re part of a great legacy. Girls destined to be unsung heroes. Tonight, we honor those that have gone before you.”

The redhead raised a hand and, in a wave, the candles in the boats lit, bobbing gently on the placid lake. The lake that no longer seemed small as it was covered in thousands of flickering candles.

“Four Slayers, two Watchers, and a witch are added to the lost tonight,” Harris said, voice rough. “Corporal Delta James. Aileen McDougal. Caridad Rodriguez. Buffy Summers. Andrew Wells. Rupert Giles. And Kit Holburn. Blessed be.”

“Blessed be,” everyone in the crowd echoed.

After a moment or so, the crowd turned back to the house. Franks and a suspiciously shiny-eyed Finn herded Gibbs and his team along with everyone else.

Gibbs glanced back to see the leggy brunette weeping into Harris’s shoulder. “Aren’t they coming?”

“No,” Finn said gruffly. “They’re keeping watch over the dead tonight.”

Gibbs’s heart rose into his throat. He felt a begrudging wave of gratitude at the knowledge that the spirits of his wife and daughter, Jenny, and Kate were amongst those being guarded.

   
 


End file.
